Comics R Phun and other things

I gleaned some inspiration the other day whilst staring at all the colours of the sunday times comic section, so I thought what the heck and started a box  from just the comic section.  I tweaked this box a bit from the original newspaper box, however - for one, I cut each sheet into 4 long quarters - the original one was just in half.  By doing that, I got a lot more newspaper for my bang, however I felt it might end up a bit flimsy so I also rolled 6 pieces to weave with.  Four of the rolls were used as corners and incorporated into the weaving with the piece next to it; the other two will be for stability along the top .

In addition, I thought it would be cool to make some kind of 'pattern' with the comics - it's not obvious in my pics, but I have laid them out whilst weaving so it will be very fun to look at after it's been varnished.

My other concern is that when I varnish it, the newspaper will garner some odd texturing from the 'wetness' of the varnish.  I've seen that in other boxes where the catalog paper was thinner - luckily it dried nicely but it's a concern.  To alleviate some of that issue, I have pre-varnished the inside bottom with the modge-podge like stuff.  This also helps with stability while I'm doing the actual weaving.

In addition to this new project, I finished 3 or 4 more boxes to take to this craft show on Saturday -  I think I'm up to a total of about 10 now.  The additions include another Victoria's Secret, delia catalog , Target Toys and Wildlife Federation.  They are very cool; I tried a few new things w/the design and I'm happy w/the outcome.  I did discover that I like glossy varnish better than matte when it comes to a catalog basket however.

The earrings are done and appear to be very popular amongst the 11-13yo crowd . 

My original plan was to varnish them but after talking to a friend who recommended against it, I went nekked :)  Each bird is hand-folded from a small square about 1 1/4" in length .  The paper is taken from bits of different catalogs I had lying around leftover from my baskets.  Some of the finished earrings have been finished with my construction paper beads as well.  I'm very happy with them and hope they do well at my sale.



From all the stuff I've been making I really like the baskets the best - they seem more like 'art' than 'craft' to me.  I am actually looking forward to trying out a bit of newspaper sculpture using the rolls, especially now that I have a little weaving under my belt and can do a much better job.